Good Thursday morning, Illinois. Um. Who knew Andy Shaw’s son-in-law was Chris Hayes? Check it out

THE BUZZ

Mayoral candidate Jerry Joyce has dropped his petition challenge against Bill Daley, but not without a parting shot about finding “a widespread pattern of forgery and fraud in the petitions.” Joyce says it’s just too difficult to track down the circulators. With that challenge removed, Daley is assured a spot on the Feb. 26 ballot.

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It’s the latest chapter in a relationship that reads like a Shakespearean play.

Daley’s brother, former Mayor Richard M. Daley, and Joyce’s father, Jeremiah Joyce, were longtime friends and allies. They overlapped serving in the state Senate. Later, not much went on in Daley’s City Hall without Joyce nearby. The elder Joyce would eventually secure a lucrative concessions contract at O’Hare Airport and hold on to that through Daley’s administration. In 2011, newly elected Mayor Rahm Emanuel stripped the contract from Joyce; the Daley pal fought the move all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court and lost.

Fast forward to Emanuel’s 2015 re-election and Mike Joyce—one of Jerry Joyce’s brothers—threw down the gauntlet. He backed Chuy Garcia, knowing the Daleys were behind Emanuel. The Daley-Joyce friendship was severed, ala Montague and Capulet.

Now comes the junior Jerry Joyce, a resident of the 19th Ward and a former state’s attorney now in private practice.

Joyce got in to the race while Emanuel was still the candidate to beat. Once the mayor dropped out, Joyce seemed to redirect his venom toward Daley, though Joyce denies that. His campaign withdrew the challenge to Daley about an hour after POLITICO called for this story. “It’s not personal,” he said. “I would never encourage volunteers to put their time and effort into a cause that wasn’t doing anything but doing right by the city.”

Daley’s camp called Joyce’s challenge “vague and sloppy,” adding: “The 1980s are over and this type of politics will eventually end.”

Joyce isn’t the only one who’s seemed to have an axe to grind in the mayor’s race. Former Police Chief Garry McCarthy said this week he’s still trying to prosecute Emanuel over handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting. And Troy LaRaviere, the fired Chicago Public Schools principal, came out swinging against the mayor when he started his campaign. He’s since dropped out.

MORE BUZZ

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to pay down the city’s $28 billion pension debt drew criticism from some mayoral candidates. And Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker said voters won’t have the stomach to change the constitution to reduce public workers’ pension benefits—a key point of Emanuel’s plan.

Not everyone, though, was so skeptical. Institutional investors from three different out-of-state firms all with stakes in the city attended Wednesday’s City Council meeting to hear Emanuel’s plan. They spoke to POLITICO and a few financial reporters on condition of anonymity. The investors agreed they were “cautiously optimistic” about Emanuel’s proposal.

They said bonding isn’t a stand-alone solution but could be a piece of a broader, comprehensive plan, as Emanuel has laid out.

So what about the possibility of locking up revenue? “It’s a drawback, but it’s hard to view these things in black and white,” said one of the investors. “If it improves the overall credit of the city, that’s also something to consider.”

We’re in the midst of a change in the administration. "We don’t know who the next mayor will be, who the next COO will be. Those questions are extremely important as to whether the disciplines will be maintained,” said another investor. And the third added: “Bonding part of it depends if the next administration maintains the same level of fiscal discipline that this administration does.”

Does it mean the next administration won’t be able to wiggle out of the plan? “You can take the pension holiday, but you can’t take the principal-on-the-interest-payment holiday,” an investor said. “That’s catastrophic. So moving it over to a more formal legal structure, I think has a lot of advantages. Of course, there are risks, but there are some benefits to it.” HT to Caitlin Devitt of Debtwire Municipals, for spotting the investors as they slipped out of the City Council chambers.

Details:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel pushes public pension fix to City Council, including legalized marijuana, Chicago casino, constitutional amendment. “Asked afterward why he waited so long to make his proposal and why he thinks the next occupant of the mayor’s office will listen, Emanuel argued he has been trying to cope with the looming problem since he took office. And without naming his predecessor Mayor Richard M. Daley, Emanuel contrasted his approach with the prior administration’s, saying it’s ‘the responsible thing to do’ to leave the next mayor some possible solutions,” report Tribune’s John Byrne and Bill Ruthhart. Story here

Rahm’s pill for pension headache could prove tough to swallow, writes the Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman in this analysis piece.

Emanuel floats floats Southeast Side Port District site for possible casino, write Sun-Times’ Mitchell Armentrout and Fran Spielman. Story here

CAMPAIGNS

— In dramatic flair, Kristi Dunn Kucera stepped down as communications director for mayoral candidate Amara Enyia. Her emailed statement said: “In light of several unknown and troubling factors that I was not privy to during the campaign, I am unable to effectively continue in this role. I wish her the best in her endeavor.” Reached by POLITICO, Kucera declined to explain the memo, citing a nondisclosure agreement. She said she supports Enyia’s campaign and reiterated she wishes the mayoral candidate “the best.”

Enyia’s campaign followed with its own statement, saying, “As we step into the next and final stage of this campaign, internal transitions and shifts are to be expected. We are excited for the opportunity to expand our growing team ahead of this critical next phase of work, and we remain grateful to all of our colleagues, past and present, for the exceptional work they’ve done thus far.”

Enyia was a little known candidate until Chance the Rapper endorsed her and Kanye West gave her $200,000 to get her campaign off the ground. She’s followed that with fundraisers but has not reported a single campaign donation since West’s on Oct. 22 and 31.

TAKING NAMES

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx hosts her annual holiday lunch today. And talk about big names. John Legend is the entertainer. He and Foxx have more in common than you'd think. Legend launched #FREEAMERICA, a campaign to reshape the national conversation around prison reform. His work is focused on giving voice to those incarcerated and helping activists work toward change.

CHICAGO

— Facing federal heat, Chicago Ald. Ed Burke gets help from famed lawyers. The 14th Ward alderman, who hasn’t been charged, is being represented in the federal corruption probe by Anton Valukas and Charles Sklarsky. Those are the same attorneys who worked on the famous “Operation Greylord” probe of judicial corruption in Cook County. Now they work for Chicago’s Jenner & Block LLC firm. WBEZ’s Dan Mihalopoulos has the scoop. Story here

— A plan introduced before the City Council would strip Ald. Edward Burke of his control of the city workers’ compensation system, reports Tribune’s John Byrne. Story here

— Chicago Park District failing minority neighborhoods, Friends of the Parks says, by Tribune's Morgan Greene: The Chicago Park District is still failing the city's black and Latino neighborhoods — more than 35 years after it pledged to spend more in those communities — according to a report released Wednesday by Friends of the Parks, the city's largest park advocacy group. Story here

— In Chicago, not everyone agrees with the grassroots call for an elected school board. Chalkbeat brings stakeholders together for a spirited discussion about schools, education and the mayor’s race. U.S. Rep.-elect Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and former CPS exec Beth Swanson are among the panelists. Event recap here

COOK COUNTY

— In the end, Cook County commissioners voted nearly unanimously Wednesday to restore a 6 percent tax on parking reservations made through apps such as SpotHero that was set to be cut in January. “We are extremely disappointed by today’s repeal because it reintroduces confusion and ambiguity that the previous law sought to clarify,” said SpotHero spokeswoman Natalie Bauer Luce. Tribune’s Greg Pratt has the full story here

— Newly retired Cook County Clerk David Orr, 77, unloaded on machine politics in an interview with Mike Thomas for Chicago magazine. Story here

STATE

— Will Illinois help fix the weed industry's diversity problem? Mark Caro writes in Chicago mag: "The social equity argument goes like this: If marijuana is going to be made legal, then the people who suffered the most from its being illegal — particularly those in black and Hispanic neighborhoods most frequently targeted in drug crackdowns — should benefit. But the owners of licensed cultivation farms and dispensaries in parts of the country where some form of use is already legal have been overwhelmingly white and operate almost entirely outside of minority communities, not employing their residents or feeding them tax dollars. Many activists and lawmakers would like to correct that imbalance before the so-called green rush escalates further." Story here

— Illinois regulators are investigating a psychiatrist whose research with children was marred by misconduct, by ProPublica Illinois' Jodi S. Cohen: State regulators have launched a probe of a former University of Illinois at Chicago psychiatrist whose misconduct — including testing lithium on children younger than 13 even though she was told not to — led federal health officials last year to demand UIC return $3.1 million they'd awarded her. Story here

— Why Illinois won't 'ban the box' on college applications, by NPR Illinois' Lee V. Gaines: Republican State Rep. Barbara Wheeler has spent the last three years pushing for legislation that would ban public colleges in Illinois from asking applicants about their criminal records. But even though research tends to support Wheeler's claim that asking the question doesn't increase campus safety, almost every public university in the state has opposed the proposed bill, H.B. 3142. Story here

MEDIA MATTERS

— Tribune, Tronc and beyond: A slur, a secret payout and a looming sale. A new tale of Chicago investor Michael Ferro and how a racial slur cost the Chicago Tribune $2.5 million to avert a threatened lawsuit, by NPR’s David Folkenflik. Story here

— ProPublica has paired 14 newsrooms and local reporters for its ProPublica Local Reporting Network, a program that supports investigative journalism at local and regional news organizations. Seven of the projects will focus on state government, while the rest will cover a broad range of subjects. Two of the newsroom/reporter teams will also work with ProPublica Illinois. They are Illinois Newsroom in Urbana, teamed with public radio reporter Rachel Otwell, and the Daily Herald and freelance writer David Bernstein.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Sean Tenner, 46th Ward committeeman

WHERE'S THE MAYOR

In the Old Post Office with Ferrara Candy Co. officials for a sweet announcement. Then he’s off to Harold Washington College to announce Aviation Futures Training Center.

WHERE'S THE GOV

At the Palmer House Hilton to address the Civic Federation’s 27th Annual Motorola Foundation Excellence in Public Service Award breakfast.

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About The Author : Shia Kapos

Shia Kapos is a reporter for POLITICO and author of POLITICO's Illinois Playbook, the most indispensable morning newsletter for influencers in Illinois government and politics.

Prior to joining POLITICO, she wrote the popular Taking Names column for the Chicago Sun-Times (and before that Crain’s Business). She’s also had stints at Dealreporter and the Salt Lake Tribune. Shia’s career has been built on breaking news and landing sit-down interviews with notable names and personalities. She’s covered billionaires on the rise and lawmakers’ precipitous falls—and all the terrain in between.

About The Author : Adrienne Hurst

Adrienne Hurst is the senior copy editor at POLITICO Pro.

Before joining POLITICO, she was a reporting fellow at Injustice Watch, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization focused on criminal justice issues. She has also written for Chicago magazine and the Chicago Reader.

Adrienne graduated with a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Washington.